1. Field of the Invention
The invention lies in the field of semiconductor manufacture. Specifically, the invention relates to a method of separating two layers of material from one another, in particular for separating a semiconductor layer from a substrate.
The term material layers is intended here to mean both layers of a single material and layer sequences or layer structures of different materials.
The production of products from semiconductors, for example electronic and optoelectronic components, typically requires a plurality of process steps, including the processes needed for growing semiconductor crystals and semiconductor layers, and for selective local removal and structuring of the layers. Many components consist in part of layer sequences of non-identical semiconductor materials, which are epitaxially grown in monocrystalline form on a substrate.
As the process steps for structuring semiconductor layers or for separating two semiconductor layers from one another, etching processes are customarily used which erode the semiconductor layers starting from the semiconductor surface. Such processes often take place very slowly and require corrosive chemicals. Further, not every known semiconductor material system has an etching process which allows corresponding layers to be structured with tolerable outlay.
In particular, the semiconductor materials indium nitride, gallium nitride and aluminum nitride (InN, GaN and AlN) and mixed crystals or alloys thereof, which will be referred to together in the text below as xe2x80x9cgroup III nitridesxe2x80x9d, are very difficult to etch chemically. No reliable wet chemical etching process is currently available for this material system. It is therefore necessary to use the technically very elaborate process of reactive ion etching (dry etching). However, this process allows only relatively low etching rates and requires poisonous and toxic gases (for example boron trichloride). Because etching processes act on the surface, it is usually necessary to control the rate and duration of the etching accurately in order to reach the desired depth.
Further, for some semiconductor materials, for example and in particular for group III nitrides, bulk crystals of them or of lattice-matched semiconductor materials cannot be produced, or can be produced only with great technical outlay. Substrates for growing such semiconductor layers are therefore only of very limited availability. For this reason it is common practice, in order to grow these semiconductor layers, as a replacement to use substrates of other materials which have properties unsatisfactory for subsequent process steps or for the operation of the component. For the growth of group III nitride layers, these are, for example, sapphire or silicon carbide substrates.
These xe2x80x9creplacementxe2x80x9d substrates entail problems such as unsuitable atomic lattice spacings and different coefficients of thermal expansion, which have detrimental effects on the material quality of the semiconductor layers grown on them. Further, some process steps such as the known cleavage of semiconductor layers in order to produce resonator mirrors of laser diodes in GaAs, are difficult or even impossible with these substrates.
In order to overcome these problems, various processes alternative to etching have to date been proposed for separating semiconductor layers or other layers from one another or from a problematic substrate.
In E. Yablonovitch et al., Appl. Phys. Lett. 51, 2222 (1987), U.S. Pat. No. 4,846,931, Thomas J. Gmitter and E. Yablonovitch, Jul. 11, 1989, it has been proposed to implement AlAs sacrificial layers in the GaAs/AlAs material system during the production process, which can then be dissolved using wet chemical means. This makes it possible to separate layers or structures from the substrate. However, because of the low lateral etching rate, this process is very time-consuming. For group III nitrides, furthermore, there exists no wet chemical etchant.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,448,636 describes a process for removing metal films from a substrate. There, the metal film is heated by light. An organic sacrificial layer between the substrate and the metal film is vaporized by the heat delivered and allows the metal layer to be removed. These organic intermediate layers cannot be employed, in particular, in the epitaxial growth of group III nitrides.
A comparable process has been described for removing silicon dioxide layers from gallium arsenide in Y.-F. Lu, Y. Aoyagi, Jpn. J. Appl. Phys. 34, L1669 (1995). There, as well, an organic intermediate layer is heated by light absorption and the SiO2 layer is lifted off.
Y.-F. Lu et al., Jpn. J. Appl. Phys. 33, L324 (1994) further discloses the separation of SiO2 strips from a GaAs layer using an excimer laser.
German patent DE 35 08 469 C2 describes a process for structuring layer sequences applied to a transparent substrate, in which the layers to be structured are exposed to laser radiation locally through a transparent substrate, and this laser radiation is absorbed in the layer to be structured.
Further, so-called laser ablation has been applied to many material systems in order to remove material. In this process, however, the surface is always destructively eroded and separation in two parts that can be used further is not possible.
Specifically for group III nitrides, Leonard and Bedair, Appl. Phys. Lett. 68, 794 (1996) describe the etching of GaN with a laser pulse under HCl gas and attribute it to a photochemical reaction involving hydrochloric acid.
Morimoto, J. Electrochem. Soc. 121, 1383 (1974) and Groh et al., physica status solidi (a) 26, 353 (1974) describe the thermally activated decomposition of GaN.
In Kelly et al., Appl. Phys. Lett. 69 (12), Sep. 16, 1996, p.1749-51 it is shown that group III nitrides can be laser-induced to undergo thermally activated composition. However, that process likewise involves a process that acts on the surface of the semiconductor layer and, in particular, leads to the destruction of the surface.
It is accordingly an object of the invention to provide an improved method of separating two layers of material from one another, which overcomes the above-mentioned disadvantages of the heretofore-known devices and processs of this general type and which is not subject to destruction, or only slight destruction, of the free surfaces of the semiconductor layers. The object is, in particular, to develop a process for separating group III nitride layers from sapphire or SiC substrates.
With the foregoing and other objects in view there is provided, in accordance with the invention, a process for separating two layers of material from one another and substantially completely preserving each of the two layers of material. The process comprises the following steps:
providing two layers of material having an interface boundary between the two layers;
irradiating the interface boundary between the two layers or a region in vicinity of the interface boundary with electromagnetic radiation through one of the two layers;
absorbing the electromagnetic radiation at the interface or in the region in the vicinity of the interface and inducing a material at the interface boundary to decompose; and
separating the two layers of material.
In accordance with an added feature of the invention, a sacrificial layer is formed at the interface boundary and wherein the absorbing step comprises absorbing the radiation with the sacrificial layer and decomposing the sacrificial layer.
In accordance with an additional feature of the invention, the sacrificial layer is formed of a material having an optical band gap smaller than a band gap of one of the two layers.
In accordance with another feature of the invention, the decomposition is induced by converting an energy of the absorbed radiation into heat.
In accordance with a further feature of the invention, a temperature-sensitive sacrificial layer is formed at the boundary interface, and the absorbing step comprises absorbing the radiation in a part of one of the layers of material, diffusing the energy in form of heat into the temperature-sensitive sacrificial layer, and decomposing the sacrificial layer.
In accordance with again an added feature of the invention, the decomposition of the interface boundary is induced by generating gas, by means of a chemical reaction, sublimation, or another process, at the interface boundary with energy of the absorbed radiation.
In accordance with again an additional feature of the invention, one of the two layers of material is a substrate and the other of the two layers of material is a semiconductor layer, a semiconductor layer sequence, or a semiconductor layer structure, and the irradiating step comprises radiating the electromagnetic radiation through the substrate. Preferably, the semiconductor body is applied for mechanical stabilization on a support material.
In accordance with again another feature of the invention, the irradiating step comprises exposing the material to one or more light pulses. In a preferred mode, two or more coherent laser beams produce an interference pattern in the exposure. The local radiation intensity is thereby increased.
In accordance with again a further feature of the invention, the semiconductor body consists at least partially of GaN, AlN, InN, mixed crystals thereof, layer sequences, layer structures, and component structures thereof. Where the sacrificial layer is provided, it consists at least partially of a GaN, AlN, InN, or mixed crystals thereof.
With the above and other objects in view there is also provided, in accordance with the invention, a process for laterally structuring a semiconductor layer or a semiconductor layer sequence disposed on a substrate. The novel process comprises the following steps:
providing a substrate and a body of semiconductor material consisting essentially of at least one group III nitride material on the substrate, with an interface formed between the substrate and the semiconductor material;
The invention thus proposes to separate the two materials in that, through one of the two layers of material, the interface, or a region in the vicinity of the interface between the two layers, is exposed to electromagnetic radiation, and that a layer of material at or in proximity to the interface is decomposed by absorption of the radiation.
This process is an alternative to wet and dry chemical etching processes as are used in semiconductor technology for structuring and producing individual layers and components. It differs from them essentially in that it acts directly on an internal region at the interface between the two layers and not on the free surface. This makes it possible, amongst other things, to produce the desired structuring depth directly instead of, for example, defining it by accurately setting the duration and rate of the etching. In the process according to the invention, in addition, there is no destruction of one of the two layers of material. This leads to a novel possibility for detaching layer systems from one another or from the substrate. Cantilevered components or layers have advantages in further process steps; they are suitable, for example, as substrates for homoepitaxy without the problems of lattice mismatching and the differences in the coefficients of thermal expansion, or to produce optical components (laser diodes) through the possibility of cleavage irrespective of the substrate cleavability. The transfer of layers, layer systems and components of group III nitride materials to other substrates permits compatibility and integration of group III nitrides with other technologically relevant semiconductor systems such as silicon.
The process makes it possible to separate layers of a layer/substrate system through direct highly local action on internal interfaces or regions in proximity to interfaces. In general, the process described here can be applied to material systems in which the interface to be separated can be reached with electromagnetic radiation, in particular with light, the radiation is absorbed by a material at this interface, and in which material in proximity to the interface can be decomposed by the absorption of light or light pulses. The process is facilitated if at least one decomposition product is in the form of gas. Examples of suitable semiconductor materials for this process include group III nitrides, oxide materials and Si3N4.
Optoelectronic components such as light-emitting diodes and semiconductor lasers and electronic components such as transistors, diodes, surface acoustic wave components are typically produced in large numbers on a single substrate. In this case, the described process of light-induced structuring can be used for separating the individual components. The separation of the components from the substrate may, as mentioned above, take place through the decomposition of a sacrificial layer which needs to be introduced during the fabrication process under or over the surface to be separated. Thin InGaN layers are especially suitable for this because of their comparatively small band gap and their chemical stability.
The production of freestanding layers and layer sequences makes it possible to transfer layers of group III nitrides to other substrates (for example silicon) which may differ greatly in terms of their structural, mechanical and thermal properties from those of group III nitrides. The procedure makes it possible to combine light-emitting diodes and semiconductor lasers made of group III nitrides with conventional support materials for the production of flat display screens or the integration of such components in circuits and integrated circuitry. Cantilevered layer structures can also be used as optical waveguides and optical couplers. If this is structured with a diffraction grating, the light can be coupled in through the grating. Layers of specific thickness can also be employed as optical filters.
By means of exposure through a mask, exposure with coherent light beams combined with interference patterning, holography, or serial or simultaneous exposure of various selected locations, lateral structuring of one of the layers of material can be produced.
The essential steps in the process according to the invention are as follows:
(i) identification, selection or production of an interface to be separated in the desired layer system, which can be reached by the radiation to be used for separation;
(ii) identification of a material, or incorporation of a material as a sacrificial layer at the interface, which material absorbs the incident light; or
(iii) identification or incorporation of a material as a sacrificial layer in proximity to the interface, which material can be made to decompose by the absorbed light or by the energy resulting therefrom, and produces a product in gas form in sufficient quantity during the decomposition; and
(iv) exposure to radiation of a selected wavelength and intensity, so that the radiation is predominantly absorbed by the interface to be separated or by the sacrificial layer, and thereby stimulates the decomposition reaction, in the case of transparent substrates it also being possible for the interface or sacrificial layer to be exposed through the substrate.
The process according to the invention is, in particular, also usable for structuring semiconductor layers consisting of group III nitrides which, for example, are applied to SiC or sapphire substrates.
Other features which are considered as characteristic for the invention are set forth in the appended claims.
Although the invention is illustrated and described herein as embodied in a method of separating two layers of material from one another, it is nevertheless not intended to be limited to the details shown, since various modifications and structural changes may be made therein without departing from the spirit of the invention and within the scope and range of equivalents of the claims.
The construction and process of operation of the invention, however, together with additional objects and advantages thereof will be best understood from the following description of specific embodiments when read in connection with the accompanying drawings.